Winter usually means "opportunity" for the buyers who are willing to bundle up, put their boots on, and do showings in the snow! 

Sometimes homebuyers see price reductions and ask me if this means property in the market is losing value. Price reductions can be due to a number of factors, but it is helpful to see the bigger picture as well.

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Zillow has a robust research department and one of their jobs is to measure local market data. Zillow's Home Value Index measures the actual estimated rising or declining value of homes on a monthly / yearly basis. This measurement method is widely accepted as more accurate. (You can also see the nationwide home value measurement from a few nationwide data organizations, Case-Shiller, FHFA, and Corelogic).

One data point I want to highlight is that Zillow measures that our beloved Milwaukee market is up 8.55% from last year!! 

https://www.zillow.com/research/monthly-snapshot-32052/
You can see the Zillow Research page here (make sure to select Milwaukee as "choose your MSA")

Even if certain properties see price reductions, it is incredibly unlikely it is due to homes actually "losing value". 

Here are a few reasons properties have sales price reductions:

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• Bad timing: perhaps the buyers that are out shopping over a particular weekend have specific needs (more than 1 bathroom), and so a house sits longer until the right buyer comes along
• The seller wanted to list a home "too high" - the listing was over-valued, and so the price needed to come back to reality. Sometimes sellers do costly updates, and they don't get the value expected, and are reluctant

One final point I'd like to make is that the percentage of homes sold above list price is a perfect example of how there are opportunities galore in the winter to snag a good deal. Over the last 6 years, more than 50% of property sell BELOW list price, while each year it surged over the summer. 

As always, please text/call with questions, here's my cell: 414-488-0438